Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time
“My heart is moved with pity for the crowd….”
The crowd. The masses of people. Thousands and millions, and, by our time, billions of humans. Each one born with a hunger for divinity, each one craving love and the eternity love promises, each one fated to die after a few decades in this world. Perhaps we do not see ourselves as one of the masses. We are Americans, members of a rich nation; we have computers and cars and full refrigerators. And yet our hearts are made for God, and they are restless until they rest in Him – and in this we are no different from any human who was ever born. And, of course, like every human born we are chronically hungry for a fulfillment that nothing in this world can give.
His heart is moved with pity for the crowd. That is, His heart is filled with pity for us. He knows that we are hungry, and that we will faint along the way unless He feeds us. He knows how He will do this: He gives thanks, He breaks the bread, He distributes it. He is setting the stage for the ultimate miracle of the breaking and distribution of His own Body and Blood as the food for our eternal lives.
So let us sit down on the ground, rest from our ceaseless wandering and searching. Let us look up to Him who alone can satisfy us, the one who alone can have a pity on us which is effective. And, having been fed by Him, let us in turn have pity on those hungry we find on our path. And like Him let us take the bread of our lives, break it, and give it generously to all who hunger for love – in memory of Him.